Annual holiday donation program begins

As December begins Friday, Union County people are being encouraged to donate goods and funds to the annual Christmas Basket Fund.

The program will conclude with the distribution of baskets Dec. 16 at the Food Shelf, 301 N. Elm in Creston.

Creston Kiwanis will be conducting food drives to collect food that will go to assist those who are in need in Union County. Grocery carts will be located at the food banks and participating banks for people to leave their nonperishable items. Those donations will be divided among the Food Shelf, MATURA and the Crest Area Food Pantry.

Mark O’Riley at the Food Shelf said he has noticed an increase with the number of youth over the past year he his assisting. He provides 190 bags of food for Creston schools. The bags typically include two meals and a snack.

“I am also doing more with shut-ins,” he said about people, typically older, who may have difficulty getting their own food. “I think that number is more because there are more people who are aware it is available.”

O’Riley said monetary donations are the best way to help as he has access to purchasing bulk quantities of food.

Monetary donations can be left at the Creston News Advertiser, 503 W. Adams. Donations can also be made through PayPal. Using a smartphone, organizers said people can open the camera app on their phone, hold their camera over the QR code and a web link will pop up to click on and it will take the donor directly to the Christmas Basket donation portal. The QR code is the graphic included in this story.

It can be anonymous if they choose and they can include a personal message also.

The Christmas Basket fund will also have $10 certificates in the baskets for perishable food items that can be redeemed at Hy-Vee, Fareway or Walmart, all in Creston.

The Creston News Advertiser plans to run stories about the donation program through the season to encourage people to give.